Gertrude Rachel Levy Explained

Gertrude Rachel Levy
Pseudonym:G. Rachel Levy
Birth Date:5 November 1883[1]
Birth Place:Aliwal North, Cape Colony[2]
Death Date:10 October 1966 (aged 82)[3] [4]
Death Place:Hendon, London, England
Occupation:writer, archaeologist
Language:English
Genres:-->
Subjects:-->
Awards:Fellow, Society of Antiquaries of London, 1947

Gertrude Rachel Levy (5 November 1883 – 10 October 1966) was a British author and cultural historian writing about comparative mythology, matriarchy, epic poetry and archaeology. She published many of her works under the name "G. Rachel Levy".

Early life and education

Levy was born in Aliwal North, Cape Colony, to Jewish parents Benjamin Levy, a German emigrant, and his wife, Florence Beaver, from Manchester.[5] Her father was a bead and glass merchant born in Posen.[6] Her maternal grandfather, Louis Beaver, emigrated from Prussia and married Staffordshire-born Rachel Mayer. The family moved to England when she was young and she grew up in Kensington.[7]

Levy earned an M.A. in Classics in 1924 from the University of London,[8] and worked from 1926 to 1928 with the Department of Antiquities in Mandatory Palestine.

Career

From 1930 to 1936, Levy was associated with an expedition to Iraq, sponsored by the University of Chicago. Later in life she lived in London, where from 1939 to 1949 she was the librarian of the Joint Library of the Hellenic and Roman Societies.[9] The Society of Antiquaries of London elected her as a Fellow in 1947.[10]

As did Alexander Marshack, but earlier, Levy made an observation to the effect that in the earliest known representations of humans and animals together, the humans are shown without weapons.[11] To the theory of hero archetypes, she contributed in The Sword from the Rock a three-phase evolutionary pattern, considered neglected by Brown and Fishwick: creation narratives, then quest pattern, then fraternal conflict.[12] Theodore Ziolkowski states that Levy included much of ancient epic in the works that can be traced back to ritual.[13] Eleazar M. Meletinsky[14] writes

[...] the monumental epics of agrarian civilizations undoubtedly use models linked to seasonal rites [...] On this point, Levy's work is interesting, despite its exaggerations, and goes beyond Murray's pioneering efforts.

Levy was an influence on Northrop Frye, as he himself acknowledged, and references to her work are common in his "Third Book" and "Late" notebooks.[15]

Works

Levy also edited The Myths of Plato (1905) by John Alexander Stewart for a 1960 edition, with revisions, translation of Greek text, and an introduction.[21]

External links

Notes and References

  1. 1939 England and Wales Register
  2. 1901, 1911 England Census
  3. News: Miss Rachel Levy . . 14 . 20 October 1966.
  4. England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1858–1995
  5. 1891 England Census
  6. UK, Naturalisation Certificates and Declarations, 1870–1916
  7. 1851 England Census; 1871 England Census
  8. Book: Calendar . 1925 . University of London . 513 . 30 December 2019 . en.
  9. http://joliheroics.blogspot.co.uk/2017/07/former-librarian-gertrude-rachel-levy.html Joint Library of the Hellenic & Roman Societies/Institute of Classical Studies Library, blogpost 14 July 2017, Former Librarian: Gertrude Rachel Levy
  10. Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries . The Antiquaries Journal . 1947 . 27 . 3–4 . 209 - 215 . 10.1017/S0003581500016978. 246048173 .
  11. Book: Govaerts, Robert. Cosmic Prayer and Guided Transformation: Key Elements of the Emergent Christian Cosmology. 8 May 2018. 2012-08-29. Wipf and Stock Publishers. 9781630875909. 96.
  12. Book: Browne. Ray Broadus. Fishwick. Marshall William. The Hero in Transition. registration. 8 May 2018. 1983. Popular Press. 9780879722388. 53.
  13. Book: Ziolkowski, Theodore. Gilgamesh among Us: Modern Encounters with the Ancient Epic. registration. 8 May 2018. 2011-11-18. Cornell University Press. 9780801463426. 169.
  14. The Poetics of Myth, English translation p. 74
  15. Book: Frye, Northrop. Northrop Frye's Notebooks on Romance. 8 May 2018. 2004. University of Toronto Press. 9780802039477. 461 note 29.
  16. Reviews of The Gate of Horn:
    • Renard . Marcel . Latomus . Review . 1949 . 88 - 89. 8 . 41516737.
    • Myres . John L. . Review . 1949 . Man . 49 . 21 - 22 . 2792536. 10.2307/2792536 .
    • Wheelwright . Philip . Review: If the Lost Word Be Lost... . The Sewanee Review . 1951 . 348 - 362 . 59 . 27538080.
    • White . Victor . Review . Blackfriars . 30 . 349 . 1949 . 179 - 181 . 43812748. 10.1111/j.1741-2005.1949.tb00413.x .
    • Smith. Sidney. Review. Nature. 164. 333–334. 27 August 1949. 10.1038/164333a0. 4073391.
    • The Antiquaries Journal. 29. 3–4. October 1949. 213. Review. D. A. E.. Garrod. 10.1017/S0003581500017339. 161295420 .
    • Raglan. Folklore. 60. 3. September 1949. 356. 1256659. Review. 10.1080/0015587X.1949.9717922.
    • W.. den Boer. Mnemosyne. Fourth Series. 2. 3. 1949. 259–262. 4427191. Review.
    • John. Layard. Hibbert Journal. 47. 200. 1948. Review.
    • Dain. Alphonse. Bulletin de l'Association Guillaume Budé. 1948. 6. 130–131. Review.
    • Picard. Charles. Journal des Savants. 1950. 2. 87–90. Review.
  17. Reviews of The Sword from the Rock:
    • Norwood . Frances . Classical Philology . 1955 . 51 - 53 . 50 . 266124 . Review. 10.1086/363863 .
    • W. F. J.. Knight. The Journal of Hellenic Studies. 77. Part 2. 1957. 318–319. Review. 10.2307/629380. 629380. 162496648 .
    • H. J.. Rose. Man. 53. August 1953. 124–125. Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland. 2795642. Review.
    • M. H. A. L. H.. van der Valk. Mnemosyne. Fourth Series. 9. 2. 1956. 160–161. 4427832. Review.
    • R. D.. Jameson. Western Folklore. 16. 3. July 1957. 223–225. 10.2307/1497659. Review. 1497659.
    • Louis. Le Breton. Syria. 32. 1–2. 1955. 131–134. 4196897. Review.
    • Eissfeldt. O.. Orientalistische Literaturzeitung. 52. January 1, 1957. 108. Review. .
    • The Antiquaries Journal. 34. 1–2. January 1954. 86. Review. R. D.. Barnett. 10.1017/S0003581500073315. 162494769 .
    • Antiquity. 27. 108. December 1953. 248–249. Review. John L.. Myres. 10.1017/S0003598X00025138. 163679410 .
    • Adam. Falkenstein. Gnomon. 26. 6. 1954. 424–426. 27680984. Review.
    • Bérard. Jean. Revue des Études Anciennes. 1954. 56. 1–2. 167–168. Review.
  18. Review of The Violet Crown:
    • M. E.. White. Phoenix. 10. 2. Summer 1956. 91–92. 10.2307/1086449. Review. 1086449.
  19. Reviews of Plato in Sicily:
    • Kerferd . G. B. . 1957 . 7 . The Classical Review . 256 - 257 . 10.1017/S0009840X00177327. 702022 . Review. 170201545 .
    • I. D.. Il Politico. 22. 1. May 1957. 232. 43204545. Review.
  20. Review of The Phoenix' Nest:
    • Massimo. Scaligero. East and West. 14. 1–2. March–June 1963. 118–119. 29754740. Review.
  21. Book: Wynne-Tyson, Jon. Finding the Words: A Publishing Life. 2004. Michael Russell. 9780859552875. 57.

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